Cyber war might never happen: researcher

October 10, 2011

Cyber war, long considered by many experts within the defence establishment to be a significant threat, if not an ongoing one, may never take place according to Dr. Thomas Rid of Kings College London.

In a paper published in The Journal of Strategic Studies, Dr. Thomas Rid, from the Department of War Studies, argues that cyber warfare has never taken place, nor is it currently doing so and it is unlikely to take place in the future.

Dr. Rid said: "The threat intuitively makes sense: Almost everybody has an iPhone, an email address and a Facebook account. We feel vulnerable to cyber attack every day. Cyberwar seems the logical next step.

"Cyber warfare is of increasing concern to governments around the world, with many nations developing defensive  and reportedly offensive - capabilities."

Recent events, such as a highly sophisticated computer worm known as Stuxnet, which was reported to have damaged the Iranian nuclear enrichment program, have fuelled speculation that cyber warfare is imminent. There have also been alleged acts of cyber warfare originating from Russia aimed at Estonia and Georgia.

However, Dr. Rid states that to constitute cyber warfare an action must be a potentially lethal, instrumental and political act of force, conducted through the use of software. Yet no single cyber attack has ever been classed as such and no act alone has ever constituted an act of war.

Dr. Rid concludes: "Politically motivated cyber attacks are simply a more sophisticated version of activities that have always occurred within warfare: sabotage, espionage and subversion."

Dr. Rid specialises in cyber security and conflict, irregular conflict and counterterrorism. He is currently researching how armies use social media and is working on a project on the subject of cyber security.

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5 comments

I found it hard to not switch off when he said iPhone! Seriously for someone who's supposedly in touch with technology, he should know it's SMARTPHONES that almost everyone has and not a particular product that actually has limited market share globally.

I found it hard to not switch off when he said iPhone! Seriously for someone who's supposedly in touch with technology, he should know it's SMARTPHONES that almost everyone has and not a particular product that actually has limited market share globally.

MarkyMark links? are you unable to Google for "proper" statistics? Or are you a retarded iOS fan boy? Since any intellectual who ACTUALLY understands the technology market would already know this facet of reality about apple products and not the hype. (facepalm!)

Check the market share transfer from 2010 - 2011 android is kicking the crap out of apple no wonder Google needs to spend 12billion to get some patient protection from the sore losers.Apple doesn't like the meager 4% increase when the pie is getting so much fatter.

Allanx896 AntiSec will not be the bearer of war's either physical or digital, their just online anarchists whom are politically motivated, hacking has been around as long as the internet but you never hear about it unless there's media hype which is all lulsec and anonymous have done. Check india vs pakistan or north and south korea they hack the crap out of each other daily and are on a brink of war politically has that actually pushed one or the other into actual full on conflict?

I don't personally agree with the article in hand fully but there is some merit to it, again like the points I've raised above.

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